Season of the WitchI can see it now: Christmas, 1966. I'm back home on leave from military service; in my mother's living room sits an enormous console stereo, the kind people used to be proud of back then, a piece of solid wood craftsmanship, big as a sofa and taking up most of a wall. I'm sitting on the couch with my new girl, drinking, smoking, laughing. |
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On the turntable the bright yellow Epic record label spins 'round and 'round; out of the big speakers comes this amazing, mercurial sound, a song quite unlike any other by an artist in whose sonic embrace I longed to linger. The album was Donovan's Sunshine Superman; it was a trove of riches to me, and one of it's dazzling jewels was "Season of the Witch."
One of the great stoner jam tunes of all time, a version was included in the famous late sixties "Super Session" album, and it's been covered, embroidered and hung out to dry by lots of groups, but few can capture the ethereal quality of the source material. It's a simple song to play, a difficult song to perform in a way that sounds authentic.
We tried using a bit of voice distortion technique on this one, but ultimately dialed it down to almost nothing. What there is here sounds pretty close to what came out of my throat and through my fingers. It makes me happy.
One of the great stoner jam tunes of all time, a version was included in the famous late sixties "Super Session" album, and it's been covered, embroidered and hung out to dry by lots of groups, but few can capture the ethereal quality of the source material. It's a simple song to play, a difficult song to perform in a way that sounds authentic.
We tried using a bit of voice distortion technique on this one, but ultimately dialed it down to almost nothing. What there is here sounds pretty close to what came out of my throat and through my fingers. It makes me happy.